Almost met my match

W

wizardofahs

New member
Yesterday I detailed a Red F250 farm truck with over 80k miles on it. I was expecting it to be routine, but boy was I wrong. It had lots of light scratches on the surface like you would expect... So i removed them with the Rotary + DACP. What was left can be seen below.
 

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So I brought out the cutting pad on the rotary with some diamond cut. It removed some of the haze, but below that I found bad water spots. These things were by far the worst water spots I have ever seen. If two passes with Diamond cut and a cutting pad on a rotary doesn't get rid of them I don't think much will. The owner said they have really acidic water and those spots have been there for about 6 years.



This picture is on the side of the hood which didn't have as much of the haze
 

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At this point I started trying everything I could think of to remove the haze and spots... another round with the buffer, vinegar, various cleaners and degreesers (i wasn't sure what that stuff was), clay and some other stuff. At that point I almost gave up hope... when I saw that there were a few kind of clean spots without the haze... I wasn't sure what to try so I took a hand applicator and used the Diamond Cut over that area.... It left a flawless clean stripe that can be found in the left side of the below picture.
 

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At this point I went back trying all the combinations trying to replicate what it was that I did so I could do it on the rest of the truck. It took a long time and I couldn't find the combination that worked, none of the other areas came out that good.



Then I seemed to find it... I still don't know why this seems to of worked... but I buffed with the Diamond Cut, then clayed, then Buffed again... that was the only combination that seemed to do the job. The claying between doesn't make much sense (especially since I clayed the vehicle before I started), but it was necessary. Just doing two trips with the buffer didn't seem to get the same results. I'm thinking maybe cutting first, then claying, allowed the clay to get deeper and brake something up or something. It makes no sense, but it worked. I was stuned how the paint came out... it was like night and day.
 

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So I went over the rest of the hood and the top half of the panels in that manner and it worked out great. I got a lot of expierence with the rotary (the truck was a Heavy Duty and was just gigantic).



Overall I didn't quite get as much time with it as i'd of liked to spend. The owner (roomates mom) was more than happy but there were a few spots that I didn't hit perfectly with the buffer that had a little bit of the water spots left, and the sides looked like they could use some more work.



I really want to go back and see if i can get the rest of it cleaned up. This thing was the biggest challenge that I have faced yet. It's amazing how much you can learn from doing a vehicle like this.



I also have more pics if people are interested... but here is the final product:
 
The truck turned out great and more than likely your the only one that sees what you couldn't get out. Also did you try a wool pad?
 
Scrap the DC when it comes to watermarks... Try this combo, trust me on this, when it comes to watermarks, all the cars that comes into my shop for restorative detailing has tons of them that are really deep...



Rotary...

Pad - LC Yellow Pad

Product - Menzerna PO S34 A Powercut

Pressure - Moderate to Heavy

Speed - approx 1000-1200rpm



Around 3 passes will do the trick...
 
theveed-thanks for the heads up.



Dr. Jones-nice work! You showed a lot of patience to figure out the best way to bring that paint back.
 
Dr. Jones- As others have said, good job on the truck and the write up. Must have been very satisfying. As you observed, a good learning experience. I'll bet you feel a LOT more confident with the rotary now :xyxthumbs
 
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